Articles

Local zoning trumps a valid easement, the Second District Court of Appeal has ruled. In a case from Los Angeles, the court determined that one property owner's easement on his neighbor's property was valid but unenforceable because it violated the zoning.

A settlement agreement between the City of Los Angeles and an Orthodox Jewish congregation that permits operation of a synagogue in a residential district has been invalidated by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

A state law that permits landlords to go out of the rental business does not trump the California Environmental Quality Act, the Second District Court of Appeal has ruled.

A San Diego merchant who has become one of the state's leading fighters against eminent domain has not only lost his appeal of a trial court decision upholding the taking of his shop, but he has also lost a $9 million award of compensation and attorneys' fees.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed a mobile home park owner's attempt to invalidate San Luis Obispo County's mobile home rent control ordinance.

In the face of never-ending demand for housing and concerns about eroding the job base, some cities are imposing regulations to protect their industrial lands.

Spurred by a land use plan intended to remove Pacific Lumber Company from bankruptcy, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors is moving toward adopting policies that would limit residential development on land zoned for timber production.

The Manteca City Council offers a time extension on permits and fee deadlines to developers, Wal-Mart's impact on global warming is questioned in Perris, the Dyer Mountain project in Lassen County has been approved but expected to be put on hold, and the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley has released the first of their annual reports on the state of the valley.

Growth management has been a nearly untouchable topic in the state capital since the 1980s. Only a handful of lawmakers and administration officials have been willing to discuss growth management, and then only indirectly.

The State of California needs a better system for determining how much it pays for resource conservation lands, the Legislative Analyst's Office concluded in a lengthy report issued in October. Although the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) does not say directly that the state has overpaid when it bought forests, wetlands, beaches, habitat and open space, the implication is easy to draw.

Three bills that would have established "green" building standards for housing, commercial structures and state government buildings were vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The governor also vetoed a controversial planning bill that would have limited cities' ability to satisfy regional fair-share mandates with non-residentially zoned properties.

A water supply analysis for a proposed development in the Santa Clarita Valley has passed a California Environmental Quality Act test laid out earlier this year by the state Supreme Court. The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that the EIR for the West Creek project adequately addresses the likely availability of long-term water sources and the mitigation of a toxic pollutant in local wells.